Reading With the Gods: The Red Pyramid
by Non Malum
Summary: Sadie, Carter, Zia, and Amos join all of the Egyptian Gods in a council meeting, when suddenly, they are interrupted by Thoth bringing in three strange books all from the Recordings of Sadie and Carter. CHAPTER 2 IS UP!
1. A Death at the Needle

**Author's Note: Hey, I felt like writing my own Reading story, but I'm gonna back all of the gods seen in the books so far there. Like a godly council meeting, if you say. So, without further ado; Reading with the Gods: The Red Pyramid**

**Oh, wait, Disclaimer time!**

**I do not claim ownership for anything in bold (other than this intro though who in their right mind would take the intro of a story), and all of the characters are property of one Mr. Rick Riordan, not me.**

Sadie, Carter, Amos and Zia were slowly dying inside. They were at a meeting of the Gods, after they were invited by Horus, and they were extremely bored.

"All I'm saying is that we should allow all Godlings to turn 13 before they are being hosted by gods!" Osiris argued, as Horus shook his head.

"I believe that as long as they are powerful enough, we should be able to make six year olds our hosts," Horus said, and everyone rolled their eyes.

"Yes Horus, add another Stupid idea to your score… What does that equal… 600 stupid ideas in five years?" Set said sarcastically, and Nephthys snickered as Horus glared at Set.

"For your information, I have GREAT ideas!" Horus said, and Set smirked.

"Horus Day? Who on Earth would celebrate you?" Set asked, and Horus glared even harder.

"Many people celebrate me!" Horus yelled.

"Yeah, people in asylums!" Set drawled.

Horus stood up, and grabbed his sword, while Set rolled his eyes.

"You'd better stop insulting me or I'll make you pay!" Horus growled, and Set glared.

"How about I give you matching eyes by stabbing out the other one?" He asked, and Horus pulled his hand up to his eye.

"You wouldn't _dare_!" He yelled, and Set snorted.

"I _dared _before!" Set said, and suddenly Sadie spoke up.

"Can you guys stop fighting for _one day?_" She asked, and Set and Horus looked at each other.

"No," They both said simultaneously.

Sadie groaned, and hit her head on the table, when suddenly Thoth opened the doors and brought in a box of books.

"Hey Gods and Goddesses… And mortals… Sorry I'm late, but I found some books that are really interesting!"

"Let me guess… Encyclopedias?" Set asked, and Thoth smirked.

"No… But the first book it titled The Red Pyramid…. Any guesses? No? Well, it's supposed to be written from three recordings by both Cater and Sadie…" He asked, and all of the gods turned to look at Sadie and Carter.

"He he… I guess they didn't particularly follow the directions and pass it on as quickly as possible…" Carter said, but Sadie shook her head.

"Actually, we told them to learn from it, and I guess… They decided that everyone should learn from it…" Sadie said, and Thoth picked up the book entitled, The Red Pyramid.

"Okay! I'm gonna read now!" He announced, and Osiris waved him on as Set rolled his eyes.

"**A Death at the Needle," **Thoth read, and the Kanes suddenly looked somber.

"Mom," Carter and Sadie said, and Osiris stiffened with dread.

"That's Cleopatra's Needle, right?" Set asked, and Osiris nodded as Carter looked surprised.

"How did you…" He trailed off as Set shrugged.

"Apophis was in it, and we were all stuck near it… It was impossible not to notice the Chaos power," Set said, and Osiris nodded, as Thoth started to read again.

**WE ONLY HAVE A FEW HOURS, so listen carefully.**

**If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance.**

"Was this recorded where I was attempting and succeeding in killing you? Or was it when Ra was being awakened, or perhaps it was-" Set started, but Nephthys glared at him.

"Set… Be quiet and listen…" Nephthys scolded, and Set rolled his eyes.

"Well, a timetable would be helpful!" Set said, and Nephthys snorted.

"Behold, the Great Lord of Chaos, and his timetable!" She said, and everyone but Set laughed.

"Ha ha… How hilarious!" Set said dryly.

Horus snorted and smiled.

"It was!" He said, and Set rolled his eyes.

Thoth cleared his throat and glared at everyone before continuing to read.

**Go to the school. Find the locker. I won't tell you which school or which locker, because if you're the right person, you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33. By the time you finish listening, you'll know what those numbers mean. Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends will depend on you.**

**The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, don't keep it longer than a week. Sure, it'll be tempting. I mean, it will grant you almost unlimited power. But if you possess it too long, it will consume you.**

"That's a nice image!" Horus said cheerfully, as every turned to stare at him.

"Wow…" Anubis muttered.

**Learn its secrets quickly and pass it on. Hide it for the next person, the way Sadie and I did for you. Then be prepared for your life to get very interesting.**

**Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story. Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.**

"Yes! Explosives!" Set cheered, and Nephthys slapped him.

"Hey!" He complained, and Nephthys glared at him.

"Be quiet and listen to the story!" She hissed, and he rolled his eyes again.

**My name is Carter Kane. I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase.**

**You think I'm kidding? Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world. I was born in L.A. but my dad's an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over. Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty. Go into a bookstore, find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane. You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb? My dad is your man. Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then.**

**I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home" schooling when you don't have a home. He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot about Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians. I read a lot, too—pretty much anything I could get my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels—because I spent a lot of time sitting around in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody. My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball. You ever try to start a game of pick-up basketball in Aswan, Egypt? It's not easy.**

**Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep all my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except he was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools. Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag. That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion.**

**It happened on Christmas Eve. We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie.**

**See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her—one in the winter, one in the summer—because our grandparents hate him. After our mom died, her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad. After six lawyers, two fistfights, and a near fatal attack with a spatula**

"What?" Set asked, turning to Osiris, who smiled sheepishly.

"Don't ask," He said, and then Thoth read the next line.

**(don't ask),**

"Creepy!" Sadie called out, and Carter and Osiris/Julius looked at each other.

**they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both—at least that was their excuse for not taking me. So Sadie was raised as a British schoolkid, and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine with me.**

"That sounds like something Set would say if he was forced to spend a day a year with me…" Horus said, and Set nodded in agreement.

"Well, there was that one day, but after you completely destroyed the Sphinx by chipping off its nose, we all decided to cancel it," Isis spoke up, and Nephthys laughed.

"Yep, and then they almost destroyed the Great Pyramids! I still can't believe that Horus got that mad!" She said, and Horus huffed.

"He insulted me!" Horus called out.

"I always insult you!" Set said, and Horus snorted.

"True," He said.

**[Shut up, Sadie. Yes—I'm getting to that part.]**

**So anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon. The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous.**

**Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous. He has dark brown skin like mine, piercing brown eyes, a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist. That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures. Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into, but sometimes—like that afternoon—I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted.**

**"Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40. "What's wrong?"**

**"No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he'd spoken aloud, because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine."**

**Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar. I always knew when he was hiding something, but I also knew no amount of pestering would get the truth out of him. He was probably trying to protect me, though from what I didn't know. Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe;**

"True on both accounts," Julius muttered.

**but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist.**

**The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag. Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger. Like the time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo. I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their boxer shorts.**

Suddenly Set started to laugh, and Nephthys joined in. Everyone looked at them, while Horus sunk into the seat.

"What?" Sadie asked, and Nephthys spoke between her giggles.

"One time, Set got really mad at Horus, and he did the same thing, but he hung him from the top of the Sphinx!" She laughed, and everyone turned to Horus, who was blushing and sinking into his seat.

"It wasn't that funny!" He said, and Osiris started to laugh.

"Actually, it was. Mostly because it was a harmless prank, not something that serious," He explained, and Horus grumbled.

**Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier malfunction.**

**Another time, we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished, and several twenty-euro notes had been tucked under the windshield wipers.**

"How did you-" Set trailed off, and everyone looked puzzled.

"Well, I kind of convinced everyone not to destroy the car…" Julius explained.

**Anyway, I'd come to respect the bag. It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck.**

**We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool place, but after you've traveled for so long, all cities start to blend together. Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not like we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot of money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists.**

"Technically, you were fugitives," Thoth said, and everyone nodded.

**I mean, you wouldn't think my dad's work was dangerous. He does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?" and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld"**

At this Osiris and Anubis perked up, while Sadie looked confused.

"Isn't there just the 'eat your heart' punishment?" She asked, and Anubis shook his head.

"There are separate punishments for many things, like murder and blasphemy…" Anubis trailed off as Thoth continued to read.

**and other stuff most people wouldn't care about. But like I said, there's that other side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into a museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras.**

**One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade. For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth. Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing" were the most terrible thing in the world.**

**After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions.**

Here, Thoth stopped and glared at Carter.

"You Should always ask questions! How could you learn anything without asking questions.

**My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait.**

**We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us.**

**"What?" I asked.**

**Then I saw the man in the trench coat. He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree. He was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee. His coat and black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses. He reminded me of a jazz musician, the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert.**

Amos perked up at his description.

"Okay, I don't mind the whole 'jazz musician' thing, but BARREL-SHAPED?" He asked, and Carter smiled sheepishly.

**Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's. No matter where we went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy.**

**"Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead."**

**"But—"**

**"Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi."**

**He crossed the street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told.**

**I decided on the slightly less dangerous path. I went to retrieve my sister.**

"Slightly less dangerous?" Sadie asked, turning to glare at Cater as he blushed.

"Ummm… Well… Sorry?" Carter said, and Sadie snorted.

**Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door.**

**"Late as usual," she said.**

**She was holding her cat, Muffin, who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before. Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger. She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendant dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some slack.**

**Sadie hadn't changed much either since last summer.**

**[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be careful how I describe her.]**

**You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than mine. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blond but not brown, which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors. That day it had red streaks down the left side. Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. Blue eyes, just like our mom's. She's only twelve, but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying. She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people. She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her.**

**[Okay, she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]**

**"Our plane was late," I told her.**

**She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!"**

**From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out, probably "Don't let them in!"**

"Yep," Sadie said.

**Sadie closed the door and regarded me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in.**

"Muffin… Errr… Bast has more taste than that!" Sadie said, and Bast smirked.

"Thank you kitten," She purred.

"**So, here you are again."**

**"Yep."**

**"Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it."**

**That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me. When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents.**

"Actually, you have a lot more in common," Julius said, and both of them nodded.

**We trudged down the steps. I was thinking how she smelled like a combination of old people's house and bubble gum when she stopped so abruptly, I ran into her.**

**"Who's that?" she asked.**

**I'd almost forgotten about the dude in the trench coat. He and my dad were standing across the street next to the big tree, having what looked like a serious argument. Dad's back was turned so I couldn't see his face, but he gestured with his hands like he does when he's agitated. The other guy scowled and shook his head.**

**"Dunno," I said. "He was there when we pulled up."**

**"He looks familiar." Sadie frowned like she was trying to remember. "Come on."**

**"Dad wants us to wait in the cab," I said, even though I knew it was no use. Sadie was already on the move.**

**Instead of going straight across the street, she dashed up the sidewalk for half a block, ducking behind cars, then crossed to the opposite side and crouched under a low stone wall. She started sneaking toward our dad. I didn't have much choice but to follow her example, even though it made me feel kind of stupid.**

**"Six years in England," I muttered, "and she thinks she's James Bond."**

Sadie swatted her brother, as he chuckled.

**Sadie swatted me without looking back and kept creeping forward.**

**A couple more steps and we were right behind the big dead tree. I could hear my dad on the other side, saying, "—have to, Amos. You know it's the right thing."**

**"No," said the other man, who must've been Amos. His voice was deep and even—very insistent. His accent was American. "If I don't stop you, Julius, they will. The Per Ankh is shadowing you."**

**Sadie turned to me and mouthed the words "Per what?"**

Thoth smiled proudly, and all the other gods glared at him.

"What?" Thoth asked, and they all shook their heads.

**I shook my head, just as mystified. "Let's get out of here," I whispered, because I figured we'd be spotted any minute and get in serious trouble. Sadie, of course, ignored me.**

**"They don't know my plan," my father was saying. "By the time they figure it out—"**

**"And the children?" Amos asked. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. "What about them?"**

**"I've made arrangements to protect them," my dad said. "Besides, if I don't do this, we're all in danger. Now, back off."**

**"I can't, Julius."**

**"Then it's a duel you want?" Dad's tone turned deadly serious. "You never could beat me, Amos."**

Set perked up, but Nephthys swatted him, and he mumbled.

"Right when you say duel, or fight, he starts paying attention," She explained.

**I hadn't seen my dad get violent since the Great Spatula Incident, and I wasn't anxious to see a repeat of that, but the two men seemed to be edging toward a fight.**

**Before I could react, Sadie popped up and shouted, "Dad!"**

**He looked surprised when she tackle-hugged him, but not nearly as surprised as the other guy, Amos. He backed up so quickly, he tripped over his own trench coat.**

Everyone snorted, except for Amos, who shrugged.

"It just surprised me to see my niece pop out behind a car," He explained.

**He'd taken off his glasses. I couldn't help thinking that Sadie was right. He did look familiar—like a very distant memory.**

**"I—I must be going," he said. He straightened his fedora and lumbered down the road.**

**Our dad watched him go. He kept one arm protectively around Sadie and one hand inside the workbag slung over his shoulder. Finally, when Amos disappeared around the corner, Dad relaxed. He took his hand out of the bag and smiled at Sadie. "Hello, sweetheart."**

**Sadie pushed away from him and crossed her arms. "Oh, now it's sweetheart, is it? You're late. Visitation Day's nearly over! And what was that about? Who's Amos, and what's the Per Ankh?"**

**Dad stiffened. He glanced at me like he was wondering how much we'd overheard.**

**"It's nothing," he said, trying to sound upbeat. "I have a wonderful evening planned. Who'd like a private tour of the British Museum?"**

**Sadie slumped in the back of the taxi between Dad and me.**

**"I can't believe it," she grumbled. "One evening together, and you want to do research."**

**Dad tried for a smile. "Sweetheart, it'll be fun. The curator of the Egyptian collection personally invited—"**

**"Right, big surprise." Sadie blew a strand of red-streaked hair out of her face. "Christmas Eve, and we're going to see some moldy old relics from Egypt.**

"Moldy old relics?" All the gods asked, turning to Sadie, who blushed.

"Hey, they were moldy and old for my defense…" She said.

"Imagine being stuck in one of those FOREVER," Set grumbled, with sighs and nods of the heads from other gods.

**Do you ever think about anything else?"**

**Dad didn't get mad. He never gets mad at Sadie. He just stared out the window at the darkening sky and the rain.**

**"Yes," he said quietly. "I do."**

**Whenever Dad got quiet like that and stared off into nowhere, I knew he was thinking about our mom. The last few months, it had been happening a lot. I'd walk into our hotel room and find him with his cell phone in his hands, Mom's picture smiling up at him from the screen—her hair tucked under a headscarf, her blue eyes startlingly bright against the desert backdrop.**

**Or we'd be at some dig site. I'd see Dad staring at the horizon, and I'd know he was remembering how he'd met her—two young scientists in the Valley of the Kings, on a dig to discover a lost tomb. Dad was an Egyptologist. Mom was an anthropologist looking for ancient DNA. He'd told me the story a thousand times.**

**Our taxi snaked its way along the banks of the Thames. Just past Waterloo Bridge, my dad tensed.**

**"Driver," he said. "Stop here a moment."**

**The cabbie pulled over on the Victoria Embankment.**

**"What is it, Dad?" I asked.**

**He got out of the cab like he hadn't heard me. When Sadie and I joined him on the sidewalk, he was staring up at Cleopatra's Needle.**

**In case you've never seen it: the Needle is an obelisk, not a needle, and it doesn't have anything to do with Cleopatra. I guess the British just thought the name sounded cool when they brought it to London. It's about seventy feet tall, which would've been really impressive back in Ancient Egypt, but on the Thames, with all the tall buildings around, it looks small and sad. You could drive right by it and not even realize you'd just passed something that was a thousand years older than the city of London.**

**"God." Sadie walked around in a frustrated circle. "Do we have to stop for every monument?"**

**My dad stared at the top of the obelisk. "I had to see it again," he murmured. "Where it happened..."**

**A freezing wind blew off the river. I wanted to get back in the cab, but my dad was really starting to worry me. I'd never seen him so distracted.**

**"What, Dad?" I asked. "What happened here?"**

**"The last place I saw her."**

Julius suddenly looked extremely sad, and Sadie sent a small smile towards him.

**Sadie stopped pacing. She scowled at me uncertainly, then back at Dad. "Hang on. Do you mean Mum?"**

**Dad brushed Sadie's hair behind her ear, and she was so surprised, she didn't even push him away.**

**I felt like the rain had frozen me solid. Mom's death had always been a forbidden subject. I knew she'd died in an accident in London. I knew my grandparents blamed my dad. But no one would ever tell us the details. I'd given up asking my dad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because he absolutely refused to tell me anything. "When you're older" was all he would say, which was the most frustrating response ever.**

"Agreed," Everyone, even the god, said.

"How do you guys-" Carter started, but the gods smirked.

"Ra told ALL of us that when we were finding out powers out… 'When you're older', especially irritating when it concerns something very important," Set said, and the other gods nodded and smiled.

**"You're telling us she died here," I said. "At Cleopatra's Needle? What happened?"**

"If it was a 'forbidden' subject, and it made him so sad, why did you ask?" Nephthys asked, and Carter looked saddened.

**He lowered his head.**

**"Dad!" Sadie protested. "I go past this every day, and you mean to say—all this time—and I didn't even know?"**

"It's probably better that you didn't know…" Set said, before Julius or Osiris could say anything.

"Lots of times, it's much better to be ignorant about certain subjects," He explained, and Sadie nodded.

**"Do you still have your cat?" Dad asked her, which seemed like a really stupid question.**

**"Of course I've still got the cat!" she said. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"And your amulet?"**

**Sadie's hand went to her neck. When we were little, right before Sadie went to live with our grandparents, Dad had given us both Egyptian amulets. Mine was an Eye of Horus, which was a popular protection symbol in Ancient Egypt.**

**In fact my dad says the modern pharmacist's symbol is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus, because medicine is supposed to protect you.**

**Anyway, I always wore my amulet under my shirt, but I figured Sadie would've lost hers or thrown it away.**

"It was the only thing I had to remember Mom and Dad by… Why would I get rid of it?" Sadie asked, and Carter shrugged.

**To my surprise, she nodded. "'Course I have it, Dad, but don't change the subject. Gran's always going on about how you caused Mum's death. That's not true, is it?"**

**We waited. For once, Sadie and I wanted exactly the same thing—the truth.**

**"The night your mother died," my father started, "here at the Needle—"**

"And cue the interruption that stops you from learning the truth as soon as you should," Set grumbled, and Nephthys smirked.

"It always happens," Nephthys explained.

**A sudden flash illuminated the embankment. I turned, half blind, and just for a moment I glimpsed two figures: a tall pale man with a forked beard and wearing cream-colored robes, and a coppery-skinned girl in dark blue robes and a headscarf—the kind of clothes I'd seen hundreds of times in Egypt.**

Zia smiled at her image, and hugged Carter.

**They were just standing there side by side, not twenty feet away, watching us. Then the light faded. The figures melted into a fuzzy afterimage. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were gone.**

**"Um..." Sadie said nervously. "Did you just see that?"**

**"Get in the cab," my dad said, pushing us toward the curb. "We're out of time."**

**From that point on, Dad clammed up.**

"See?" Set said, and everyone looked shocked.

**"This isn't the place to talk," he said, glancing behind us. He'd promised the cabbie an extra ten pounds if he got us to the museum in under five minutes, and the cabbie was doing his best.**

**"Dad," I tried, "those people at the river—"**

**"And the other bloke, Amos," Sadie said. "Are they Egyptian police or something?"**

"Something," Zia said, and Carter smiled.

**"Look, both of you," Dad said, "I'm going to need your help tonight. I know it's hard, but you have to be patient. I'll explain everything, I promise, after we get to the museum. I'm going to make everything right again."**

**"What do you mean?" Sadie insisted. "Make what right?"**

**Dad's expression was more than sad. It was almost guilty. With a chill, I thought about what Sadie had said: about our grandparents blaming him for Mom's death. That couldn't be what he was talking about, could it?**

Julius looked embarrassed as everyone turned to look at him.

"What? It's not my fault my children are too perceptive for their own good!"

**The cabbie swerved onto Great Russell Street and screeched to a halt in front of the museum's main gates.**

**"Just follow my lead," Dad told us. "When we meet the curator, act normal."**

**I was thinking that Sadie never acted normal, but I decided not to say anything.**

**We climbed out of the cab. I got our luggage while Dad paid the driver with a big wad of cash. Then he did something strange. He threw a handful of small objects into the backseat—they looked like stones, but it was too dark for me to be sure. "Keep driving," he told the cabbie. "Take us to Chelsea."**

**That made no sense since we were already out of the cab, but the driver sped off. I glanced at Dad, then back at the cab, and before it turned the corner and disappeared in the dark, I caught a weird glimpse of three passengers in the backseat: a man and two kids.**

**I blinked. There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. "Dad—"**

**"London cabs don't stay empty very long," he said matter-of-factly. "Come along, kids."**

"Nice excuse, but it won't work on them," Set stated, and Carter and Sadie smirked.

**He marched off through the wrought iron gates. For a second, Sadie and I hesitated.**

**"Carter, what is going on?"**

**I shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to know."**

**"Well, stay out here in the cold if you want, but I'm not leaving without an explanation." She turned and marched after our dad.**

**Looking back on it, I should've run. I should've dragged Sadie out of there and gotten as far away as possible. Instead I followed her through the gates.**

"End of the chapter!" Thoth called out, "Who wants to read next?"

Carter gestured for the book and was about to continue when a flash stopped him. Everyone looked over to see Ruby Kane standing there and looking confused.

**Author's Note: Hey, I felt like writing my own Reading story, but I'm gonna back all of the gods seen in the books so far there. Like a godly council meeting, if you say. So, without further ado; Reading with the Gods: The Red Pyramid**

**Oh, wait, Disclaimer time!**

**Set: Malum does not own the Kane Chronicles, even though she seriously wants to.**

**Me: Awww, thank you!**

**Set: Can I have my kidnapped Set Animal back now?**

**Me: It wasn't kidnapped! It was Set-napped! *laughs***

**Set: O.o Okay, I make jokes, but mine are NOTHING like that….**

**Me: Just take your Set Animal….**

Sadie, Carter, Amos and Zia were slowly dying inside. They were at a meeting of the Gods, after they were invited by Horus, and they were extremely bored.

"All I'm saying is that we should allow all Godlings to turn 13 before they are being hosted by gods!" Osiris argued, as Horus shook his head.

"I believe that as long as they are powerful enough, we should be able to make six year olds our hosts," Horus said, and everyone rolled their eyes.

"Yes Horus, add another Stupid idea to your score… What does that equal… 600 stupid ideas in five years?" Set said sarcastically, and Nephthys snickered as Horus glared at Set.

"For your information, I have GREAT ideas!" Horus said, and Set smirked.

"Horus Day? Who on Earth would celebrate you?" Set asked, and Horus glared even harder.

"Many people celebrate me!" Horus yelled.

"Yeah, people in asylums!" Set drawled.

Horus stood up, and grabbed his sword, while Set rolled his eyes.

"You'd better stop insulting me or I'll make you pay!" Horus growled, and Set glared.

"How about I give you matching eyes by stabbing out the other one?" He asked, and Horus pulled his hand up to his eye.

"You wouldn't _dare_!" He yelled, and Set snorted.

"I _dared _before!" Set said, and suddenly Sadie spoke up.

"Can you guys stop fighting for _one day?_" She asked, and Set and Horus looked at each other.

"No," They both said simultaneously.

Sadie groaned, and hit her head on the table, when suddenly Thoth opened the doors and brought in a box of books.

"Hey Gods and Goddesses… And mortals… Sorry I'm late, but I found some books that are really interesting!"

"Let me guess… Encyclopedias?" Set asked, and Thoth smirked.

"No… But the first book it titled The Red Pyramid…. Any guesses? No? Well, it's supposed to be written from three recordings by both Cater and Sadie…" He asked, and all of the gods turned to look at Sadie and Carter.

"He he… I guess they didn't particularly follow the directions and pass it on as quickly as possible…" Carter said, but Sadie shook her head.

"Actually, we told them to learn from it, and I guess… They decided that everyone should learn from it…" Sadie said, and Thoth picked up the book entitled, The Red Pyramid.

"Okay! I'm gonna read now!" He announced, and Osiris waved him on as Set rolled his eyes.

"**A Death at the Needle," **Thoth read, and the Kanes suddenly looked somber.

"Mom," Carter and Sadie said, and Osiris stiffened with dread.

"That's Cleopatra's Needle, right?" Set asked, and Osiris nodded as Carter looked surprised.

"How did you…" He trailed off as Set shrugged.

"Apophis was in it, and we were all stuck near it… It was impossible not to notice the Chaos power," Set said, and Osiris nodded, as Thoth started to read again.

**WE ONLY HAVE A FEW HOURS, so listen carefully.**

**If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance.**

"Was this recorded where I was attempting and succeeding in killing you? Or was it when Ra was being awakened, or perhaps it was-" Set started, but Nephthys glared at him.

"Set… Be quiet and listen…" Nephthys scolded, and Set rolled his eyes.

"Well, a timetable would be helpful!" Set said, and Nephthys snorted.

"Behold, the Great Lord of Chaos, and his timetable!" She said, and everyone but Set laughed.

"Ha ha… How hilarious!" Set said dryly.

Horus snorted and smiled.

"It was!" He said, and Set rolled his eyes.

Thoth cleared his throat and glared at everyone before continuing to read.

**Go to the school. Find the locker. I won't tell you which school or which locker, because if you're the right person, you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33. By the time you finish listening, you'll know what those numbers mean. Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends will depend on you.**

**The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, don't keep it longer than a week. Sure, it'll be tempting. I mean, it will grant you almost unlimited power. But if you possess it too long, it will consume you.**

"That's a nice image!" Horus said cheerfully, as every turned to stare at him.

"Wow…" Anubis muttered.

**Learn its secrets quickly and pass it on. Hide it for the next person, the way Sadie and I did for you. Then be prepared for your life to get very interesting.**

**Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story. Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.**

"Yes! Explosives!" Set cheered, and Nephthys slapped him.

"Hey!" He complained, and Nephthys glared at him.

"Be quiet and listen to the story!" She hissed, and he rolled his eyes again.

**My name is Carter Kane. I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase.**

**You think I'm kidding? Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world. I was born in L.A. but my dad's an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over. Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty. Go into a bookstore, find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane. You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb? My dad is your man. Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then.**

**I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home" schooling when you don't have a home. He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot about Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians. I read a lot, too—pretty much anything I could get my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels—because I spent a lot of time sitting around in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody. My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball. You ever try to start a game of pick-up basketball in Aswan, Egypt? It's not easy.**

**Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep all my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except he was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools. Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag. That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion.**

**It happened on Christmas Eve. We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie.**

**See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her—one in the winter, one in the summer—because our grandparents hate him. After our mom died, her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad. After six lawyers, two fistfights, and a near fatal attack with a spatula**

"What?" Set asked, turning to Osiris, who smiled sheepishly.

"Don't ask," He said, and then Thoth read the next line.

**(don't ask),**

"Creepy!" Sadie called out, and Carter and Osiris/Julius looked at each other.

**they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both—at least that was their excuse for not taking me. So Sadie was raised as a British schoolkid, and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine with me.**

"That sounds like something Set would say if he was forced to spend a day a year with me…" Horus said, and Set nodded in agreement.

"Well, there was that one day, but after you completely destroyed the Sphinx by chipping off its nose, we all decided to cancel it," Isis spoke up, and Nephthys laughed.

"Yep, and then they almost destroyed the Great Pyramids! I still can't believe that Horus got that mad!" She said, and Horus huffed.

"He insulted me!" Horus called out.

"I always insult you!" Set said, and Horus snorted.

"True," He said.

**[Shut up, Sadie. Yes—I'm getting to that part.]**

**So anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon. The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous.**

**Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous. He has dark brown skin like mine, piercing brown eyes, a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist. That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures. Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into, but sometimes—like that afternoon—I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted.**

**"Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40. "What's wrong?"**

**"No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he'd spoken aloud, because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine."**

**Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar. I always knew when he was hiding something, but I also knew no amount of pestering would get the truth out of him. He was probably trying to protect me, though from what I didn't know. Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe;**

"True on both accounts," Julius muttered.

**but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist.**

**The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag. Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger. Like the time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo. I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their boxer shorts.**

Suddenly Set started to laugh, and Nephthys joined in. Everyone looked at them, while Horus sunk into the seat.

"What?" Sadie asked, and Nephthys spoke between her giggles.

"One time, Set got really mad at Horus, and he did the same thing, but he hung him from the top of the Sphinx!" She laughed, and everyone turned to Horus, who was blushing and sinking into his seat.

"It wasn't that funny!" He said, and Osiris started to laugh.

"Actually, it was. Mostly because it was a harmless prank, not something that serious," He explained, and Horus grumbled.

**Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier malfunction.**

**Another time, we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished, and several twenty-euro notes had been tucked under the windshield wipers.**

"How did you-" Set trailed off, and everyone looked puzzled.

"Well, I kind of convinced everyone not to destroy the car…" Julius explained.

**Anyway, I'd come to respect the bag. It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck.**

**We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool place, but after you've traveled for so long, all cities start to blend together. Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not like we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot of money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists.**

"Technically, you were fugitives," Thoth said, and everyone nodded.

**I mean, you wouldn't think my dad's work was dangerous. He does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?" and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld"**

At this Osiris and Anubis perked up, while Sadie looked confused.

"Isn't there just the 'eat your heart' punishment?" She asked, and Anubis shook his head.

"There are separate punishments for many things, like murder and blasphemy…" Anubis trailed off as Thoth continued to read.

**and other stuff most people wouldn't care about. But like I said, there's that other side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into a museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras.**

**One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade. For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth. Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing" were the most terrible thing in the world.**

**After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions.**

Here, Thoth stopped and glared at Carter.

"You Should always ask questions! How could you learn anything without asking questions.

**My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait.**

**We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us.**

**"What?" I asked.**

**Then I saw the man in the trench coat. He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree. He was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee. His coat and black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses. He reminded me of a jazz musician, the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert.**

Amos perked up at his description.

"Okay, I don't mind the whole 'jazz musician' thing, but BARREL-SHAPED?" He asked, and Carter smiled sheepishly.

**Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's. No matter where we went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy.**

**"Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead."**

**"But—"**

**"Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi."**

**He crossed the street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told.**

**I decided on the slightly less dangerous path. I went to retrieve my sister.**

"Slightly less dangerous?" Sadie asked, turning to glare at Cater as he blushed.

"Ummm… Well… Sorry?" Carter said, and Sadie snorted.

**Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door.**

**"Late as usual," she said.**

**She was holding her cat, Muffin, who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before. Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger. She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendant dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some slack.**

**Sadie hadn't changed much either since last summer.**

**[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be careful how I describe her.]**

**You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than mine. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blond but not brown, which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors. That day it had red streaks down the left side. Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. Blue eyes, just like our mom's. She's only twelve, but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying. She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people. She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her.**

**[Okay, she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]**

**"Our plane was late," I told her.**

**She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!"**

**From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out, probably "Don't let them in!"**

"Yep," Sadie said.

**Sadie closed the door and regarded me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in.**

"Muffin… Errr… Bast has more taste than that!" Sadie said, and Bast smirked.

"Thank you kitten," She purred.

"**So, here you are again."**

**"Yep."**

**"Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it."**

**That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me. When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents.**

"Actually, you have a lot more in common," Julius said, and both of them nodded.

**We trudged down the steps. I was thinking how she smelled like a combination of old people's house and bubble gum when she stopped so abruptly, I ran into her.**

**"Who's that?" she asked.**

**I'd almost forgotten about the dude in the trench coat. He and my dad were standing across the street next to the big tree, having what looked like a serious argument. Dad's back was turned so I couldn't see his face, but he gestured with his hands like he does when he's agitated. The other guy scowled and shook his head.**

**"Dunno," I said. "He was there when we pulled up."**

**"He looks familiar." Sadie frowned like she was trying to remember. "Come on."**

**"Dad wants us to wait in the cab," I said, even though I knew it was no use. Sadie was already on the move.**

**Instead of going straight across the street, she dashed up the sidewalk for half a block, ducking behind cars, then crossed to the opposite side and crouched under a low stone wall. She started sneaking toward our dad. I didn't have much choice but to follow her example, even though it made me feel kind of stupid.**

**"Six years in England," I muttered, "and she thinks she's James Bond."**

Sadie swatted her brother, as he chuckled.

**Sadie swatted me without looking back and kept creeping forward.**

**A couple more steps and we were right behind the big dead tree. I could hear my dad on the other side, saying, "—have to, Amos. You know it's the right thing."**

**"No," said the other man, who must've been Amos. His voice was deep and even—very insistent. His accent was American. "If I don't stop you, Julius, they will. The Per Ankh is shadowing you."**

**Sadie turned to me and mouthed the words "Per what?"**

Thoth smiled proudly, and all the other gods glared at him.

"What?" Thoth asked, and they all shook their heads.

**I shook my head, just as mystified. "Let's get out of here," I whispered, because I figured we'd be spotted any minute and get in serious trouble. Sadie, of course, ignored me.**

**"They don't know my plan," my father was saying. "By the time they figure it out—"**

**"And the children?" Amos asked. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. "What about them?"**

**"I've made arrangements to protect them," my dad said. "Besides, if I don't do this, we're all in danger. Now, back off."**

**"I can't, Julius."**

**"Then it's a duel you want?" Dad's tone turned deadly serious. "You never could beat me, Amos."**

Set perked up, but Nephthys swatted him, and he mumbled.

"Right when you say duel, or fight, he starts paying attention," She explained.

**I hadn't seen my dad get violent since the Great Spatula Incident, and I wasn't anxious to see a repeat of that, but the two men seemed to be edging toward a fight.**

**Before I could react, Sadie popped up and shouted, "Dad!"**

**He looked surprised when she tackle-hugged him, but not nearly as surprised as the other guy, Amos. He backed up so quickly, he tripped over his own trench coat.**

Everyone snorted, except for Amos, who shrugged.

"It just surprised me to see my niece pop out behind a car," He explained.

**He'd taken off his glasses. I couldn't help thinking that Sadie was right. He did look familiar—like a very distant memory.**

**"I—I must be going," he said. He straightened his fedora and lumbered down the road.**

**Our dad watched him go. He kept one arm protectively around Sadie and one hand inside the workbag slung over his shoulder. Finally, when Amos disappeared around the corner, Dad relaxed. He took his hand out of the bag and smiled at Sadie. "Hello, sweetheart."**

**Sadie pushed away from him and crossed her arms. "Oh, now it's sweetheart, is it? You're late. Visitation Day's nearly over! And what was that about? Who's Amos, and what's the Per Ankh?"**

**Dad stiffened. He glanced at me like he was wondering how much we'd overheard.**

**"It's nothing," he said, trying to sound upbeat. "I have a wonderful evening planned. Who'd like a private tour of the British Museum?"**

**Sadie slumped in the back of the taxi between Dad and me.**

**"I can't believe it," she grumbled. "One evening together, and you want to do research."**

**Dad tried for a smile. "Sweetheart, it'll be fun. The curator of the Egyptian collection personally invited—"**

**"Right, big surprise." Sadie blew a strand of red-streaked hair out of her face. "Christmas Eve, and we're going to see some moldy old relics from Egypt.**

"Moldy old relics?" All the gods asked, turning to Sadie, who blushed.

"Hey, they were moldy and old for my defense…" She said.

"Imagine being stuck in one of those FOREVER," Set grumbled, with sighs and nods of the heads from other gods.

**Do you ever think about anything else?"**

**Dad didn't get mad. He never gets mad at Sadie. He just stared out the window at the darkening sky and the rain.**

**"Yes," he said quietly. "I do."**

**Whenever Dad got quiet like that and stared off into nowhere, I knew he was thinking about our mom. The last few months, it had been happening a lot. I'd walk into our hotel room and find him with his cell phone in his hands, Mom's picture smiling up at him from the screen—her hair tucked under a headscarf, her blue eyes startlingly bright against the desert backdrop.**

**Or we'd be at some dig site. I'd see Dad staring at the horizon, and I'd know he was remembering how he'd met her—two young scientists in the Valley of the Kings, on a dig to discover a lost tomb. Dad was an Egyptologist. Mom was an anthropologist looking for ancient DNA. He'd told me the story a thousand times.**

**Our taxi snaked its way along the banks of the Thames. Just past Waterloo Bridge, my dad tensed.**

**"Driver," he said. "Stop here a moment."**

**The cabbie pulled over on the Victoria Embankment.**

**"What is it, Dad?" I asked.**

**He got out of the cab like he hadn't heard me. When Sadie and I joined him on the sidewalk, he was staring up at Cleopatra's Needle.**

**In case you've never seen it: the Needle is an obelisk, not a needle, and it doesn't have anything to do with Cleopatra. I guess the British just thought the name sounded cool when they brought it to London. It's about seventy feet tall, which would've been really impressive back in Ancient Egypt, but on the Thames, with all the tall buildings around, it looks small and sad. You could drive right by it and not even realize you'd just passed something that was a thousand years older than the city of London.**

**"God." Sadie walked around in a frustrated circle. "Do we have to stop for every monument?"**

**My dad stared at the top of the obelisk. "I had to see it again," he murmured. "Where it happened..."**

**A freezing wind blew off the river. I wanted to get back in the cab, but my dad was really starting to worry me. I'd never seen him so distracted.**

**"What, Dad?" I asked. "What happened here?"**

**"The last place I saw her."**

Julius suddenly looked extremely sad, and Sadie sent a small smile towards him.

**Sadie stopped pacing. She scowled at me uncertainly, then back at Dad. "Hang on. Do you mean Mum?"**

**Dad brushed Sadie's hair behind her ear, and she was so surprised, she didn't even push him away.**

**I felt like the rain had frozen me solid. Mom's death had always been a forbidden subject. I knew she'd died in an accident in London. I knew my grandparents blamed my dad. But no one would ever tell us the details. I'd given up asking my dad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because he absolutely refused to tell me anything. "When you're older" was all he would say, which was the most frustrating response ever.**

"Agreed," Everyone, even the god, said.

"How do you guys-" Carter started, but the gods smirked.

"Ra told ALL of us that when we were finding out powers out… 'When you're older', especially irritating when it concerns something very important," Set said, and the other gods nodded and smiled.

**"You're telling us she died here," I said. "At Cleopatra's Needle? What happened?"**

"If it was a 'forbidden' subject, and it made him so sad, why did you ask?" Nephthys asked, and Carter looked saddened.

**He lowered his head.**

**"Dad!" Sadie protested. "I go past this every day, and you mean to say—all this time—and I didn't even know?"**

"It's probably better that you didn't know…" Set said, before Julius or Osiris could say anything.

"Lots of times, it's much better to be ignorant about certain subjects," He explained, and Sadie nodded.

**"Do you still have your cat?" Dad asked her, which seemed like a really stupid question.**

**"Of course I've still got the cat!" she said. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"And your amulet?"**

**Sadie's hand went to her neck. When we were little, right before Sadie went to live with our grandparents, Dad had given us both Egyptian amulets. Mine was an Eye of Horus, which was a popular protection symbol in Ancient Egypt.**

**In fact my dad says the modern pharmacist's symbol is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus, because medicine is supposed to protect you.**

**Anyway, I always wore my amulet under my shirt, but I figured Sadie would've lost hers or thrown it away.**

"It was the only thing I had to remember Mom and Dad by… Why would I get rid of it?" Sadie asked, and Carter shrugged.

**To my surprise, she nodded. "'Course I have it, Dad, but don't change the subject. Gran's always going on about how you caused Mum's death. That's not true, is it?"**

**We waited. For once, Sadie and I wanted exactly the same thing—the truth.**

**"The night your mother died," my father started, "here at the Needle—"**

"And cue the interruption that stops you from learning the truth as soon as you should," Set grumbled, and Nephthys smirked.

"It always happens," Nephthys explained.

**A sudden flash illuminated the embankment. I turned, half blind, and just for a moment I glimpsed two figures: a tall pale man with a forked beard and wearing cream-colored robes, and a coppery-skinned girl in dark blue robes and a headscarf—the kind of clothes I'd seen hundreds of times in Egypt.**

Zia smiled at her image, and hugged Carter.

**They were just standing there side by side, not twenty feet away, watching us. Then the light faded. The figures melted into a fuzzy afterimage. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were gone.**

**"Um..." Sadie said nervously. "Did you just see that?"**

**"Get in the cab," my dad said, pushing us toward the curb. "We're out of time."**

**From that point on, Dad clammed up.**

"See?" Set said, and everyone looked shocked.

**"This isn't the place to talk," he said, glancing behind us. He'd promised the cabbie an extra ten pounds if he got us to the museum in under five minutes, and the cabbie was doing his best.**

**"Dad," I tried, "those people at the river—"**

**"And the other bloke, Amos," Sadie said. "Are they Egyptian police or something?"**

"Something," Zia said, and Carter smiled.

**"Look, both of you," Dad said, "I'm going to need your help tonight. I know it's hard, but you have to be patient. I'll explain everything, I promise, after we get to the museum. I'm going to make everything right again."**

**"What do you mean?" Sadie insisted. "Make what right?"**

**Dad's expression was more than sad. It was almost guilty. With a chill, I thought about what Sadie had said: about our grandparents blaming him for Mom's death. That couldn't be what he was talking about, could it?**

Julius looked embarrassed as everyone turned to look at him.

"What? It's not my fault my children are too perceptive for their own good!"

**The cabbie swerved onto Great Russell Street and screeched to a halt in front of the museum's main gates.**

**"Just follow my lead," Dad told us. "When we meet the curator, act normal."**

**I was thinking that Sadie never acted normal, but I decided not to say anything.**

**We climbed out of the cab. I got our luggage while Dad paid the driver with a big wad of cash. Then he did something strange. He threw a handful of small objects into the backseat—they looked like stones, but it was too dark for me to be sure. "Keep driving," he told the cabbie. "Take us to Chelsea."**

**That made no sense since we were already out of the cab, but the driver sped off. I glanced at Dad, then back at the cab, and before it turned the corner and disappeared in the dark, I caught a weird glimpse of three passengers in the backseat: a man and two kids.**

**I blinked. There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. "Dad—"**

**"London cabs don't stay empty very long," he said matter-of-factly. "Come along, kids."**

"Nice excuse, but it won't work on them," Set stated, and Carter and Sadie smirked.

**He marched off through the wrought iron gates. For a second, Sadie and I hesitated.**

**"Carter, what is going on?"**

**I shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to know."**

**"Well, stay out here in the cold if you want, but I'm not leaving without an explanation." She turned and marched after our dad.**

**Looking back on it, I should've run. I should've dragged Sadie out of there and gotten as far away as possible. Instead I followed her through the gates.**

"End of the chapter!" Thoth called out, "Who wants to read next?"

Carter gestured for the book and was about to continue when a flash stopped him. Everyone looked over to see Ruby Kane standing there and looking confused.


	2. An Explosion for Christmas

**A/N: Happy 11/11/11 People!**

**P.S. I don't own the Kane Chronicles, nor am I making money from righting a rudimental fanfiction story**

**Okay, here we go again! Welcome to… The Kane Zone… Hahaha! The Kane GNOME! XD **

**I think there might be more comments in proprtion to the length of this chapter, because the other was like 16 pages, and this was 10... Oh well, enjoy...**

* * *

><p>Everyone stared as Ruby looked around in surprise.<p>

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Sadie asked, and Carter nodded, his mouth hanging open.

"I… Have no clue!" Ruby said, walking up to Sadie and Carter, "I was just sitting in the Afterlife, when 'poof', here I am!" She explained, and everyone turned to look at Osiris, who was smirking.

"Dad?" Carter asked, and Osiris shook his head.

"Nope, it's Osiris this time," He said, and everyone but Set smirked at the antics of them.

"Ugh, can we just read?" Set asked, and Ruby pulled up a chair and listened as Carter started to read.

"**An Explosion for Christmas" **Carter read.

Sadie and Carter gazed up at the five gods released on that day, and noticed the looks of recognition on their faces.

"Aw… I'm so dead after this chapter…" Set groaned, and Ruby looked up questioningly.

**I'D BEEN TO THE BRITISH MUSEM BEFORE. In fact I've been in more museums than I like to admit—it makes me sound like a total geek. **

"You are a total geek," Sadie said, and then Carter read the next line.

**[That's Sadie in the background, yelling that I am a total geek. Thanks, Sis.]**

"No problem," Sadie joked, smirking.

**Anyway, the museum was closed and completely dark, but the curator and two security guards were waiting for us on the front steps.**

**"Dr. Kane!" The curator was a greasy little dude in a cheap suit. I'd seen mummies with more hair and better teeth.**

"Which mummies?" Nephthys and Anubis asked at the same time.

Everyone got quiet as they turned to look at each other wide-eyed.

Set smirked, and everyone started to smile, as Carter answered.

"Well… Almost all of them, actually…" Carter said, and everyone shivered.

**He shook my dad's hand like he was meeting a rock star. "Your last paper on Imhotep—brilliant! I don't know how you translated those spells!"**

"That's because he's a magician," Ruby said, and Julius smiled at her.

**"Im-ho-who?" Sadie muttered to me.**

**"Imhotep," I said. "High priest, architect. Some say he was a magician. Designed the first step pyramid. You know."**

**"Don't know," Sadie said. "Don't care. But thanks."**

**Dad expressed his gratitude to the curator for hosting us on a holiday. Then he put his hand on my shoulder. "Dr. Martin, I'd like you to meet Carter and Sadie."**

**"Ah! Your son, obviously, and—" The curator looked hesitantly at Sadie. "And this young lady?"**

"Ugh… And cue the annoyance," Sadie and Carter said, as Julius and Ruby smiled at them comfortingly.

**"My daughter," Dad said.**

**Dr. Martin's stare went temporarily blank. Doesn't matter how open-minded or polite people think they are, there's always that moment of confusion that flashes across their faces when they realize Sadie is part of our family. I hate it, **

"True," Sadie said, scowling.

**but over the years I've come to expect it.**

"Also true…"

**The curator regained his smile. "Yes, yes, of course. Right this way, Dr. Kane. We're very honored!"**

**The security guards locked the doors behind us. They took our luggage, then one of them reached for Dad's workbag.**

**"Ah, no," Dad said with a tight smile. "I'll keep this one."**

"I couldn't let them take my magician bag, now could I?" Julius said, and Ruby smiled at him.

"No, no you couldn't," She said, and Julius smiled back at her.

**The guards stayed in the foyer as we followed the curator into the Great Court. It was ominous at night. Dim light from the glass-domed ceiling cast crosshatched shadows across the walls like a giant spiderweb. Our footsteps clicked on the white marble floor.**

**"So," Dad said, "the stone."**

**"Yes!" the curator said. "Though I can't imagine what new information you could glean from it. It's been studied to death—our most famous artifact, of course."**

**"Of course," Dad said. "But you may be surprised."**

**"What's he on about now?" Sadie whispered to me.**

**I didn't answer. I had a sneaking suspicion what stone they were talking about, but I couldn't figure out why Dad would drag us out on Christmas Eve to see it.**

**I wondered what he'd been about to tell us at Cleopatra's Needle—something about our mother and the night she died. And why did he keep glancing around as if he expected those strange people we'd seen at the Needle to pop up again? We were locked in a museum surrounded by guards and high-tech security. Nobody could bother us in here—I hoped.**

**We turned left into the Egyptian wing. The walls were lined with massive statues of the pharaohs and gods, but my dad bypassed them all and went straight for the main attraction in the middle of the room.**

**"Beautiful," my father murmured. "And it's not a replica?"**

**"No, no," the curator promised. "We don't always keep the actual stone on display, but for you—this is quite real."**

"Good! It would be _really _bad if someone worked a spell on a fake one…" Set murmured, and everyone looked at him strangely, "What? Okay, so I did it once and it… Kinda almost blew up the entire Upper Egypt…"

"Interesting fact, Upper Egypt is in fact in the South, while Lower Egypt is to the North. This is because-" Thoth started, but Set cut him off.

"Because the Nile flows North, so from the perspective of the Egyptians, Upper Egypt was from the opposite directional flow of the Nile, while Lower Egypt was placed at the end of the Nile…" Set stated, and Thoth looked mad.

"How do you even know that?" He demanded.

"You say it every time Upper or Lower Egypt is mentioned!" Set explained.

**We were staring at a slab of dark gray rock about three feet tall and two feet wide. It sat on a pedestal, encased in a glass box. The flat surface of the stone was chiseled with three distinct bands of writing. The top part was Ancient Egyptian picture writing: hieroglyphics. The middle section...I had to rack my brain to remember what my dad called it: Demotic, a kind of writing from the period when the Greeks controlled Egypt and a lot of Greek words got mixed into Egyptian. The last lines were in Greek.**

**"The Rosetta Stone," I said.**

**"Isn't that a computer program?" Sadie asked.**

All the gods and goddesses turned to look at Sadie in disbelief.

**I wanted to tell her how stupid she was, but the curator cut me off with a nervous laugh. "Young lady, the Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphics! It was discovered by Napoleon's army in 1799 and—"**

**"Oh, right," Sadie said. "I remember now."**

**I knew she was just saying that to shut him up, but my dad wouldn't let it go.**

**"Sadie," he said, "until this stone was discovered, regular mortals...er, I mean, no one had been able to read hieroglyphics for centuries. The written language of Egypt had been completely forgotten. Then an Englishman named Thomas Young proved that the Rosetta Stone's three languages all conveyed the same message. A Frenchman named Champollion took up the work and cracked the code of hieroglyphics."**

**Sadie chewed her gum, unimpressed. "What's it say, then?"**

"Absolutely _nothing_!" Set said, scowling, "the most _boring_ piece of Egyptian work, and they decide to trap _me _in it…" Set grumbled, and Nephthys nodded in agreement.

**Dad shrugged. "Nothing important. It's basically a thank-you letter from some priests to King Ptolemy V. When it was first carved, the stone was no big deal. But over the centuries...over the centuries it has become a powerful symbol. Perhaps the most important connection between Ancient Egypt and the modern world. I was a fool not to realize its potential sooner."**

"Julius… You just lost them," Ruby said.

**He'd lost me, and apparently the curator too.**

**"Dr. Kane?" he asked. "Are you quite all right?"**

**Dad breathed deeply. "My apologies, Dr. Martin. I was just...thinking aloud. If I could have the glass removed? And if you could bring me the papers I asked for from your archives."**

**Dr. Martin nodded. He pressed a code into a small remote control, and the front of the glass box clicked open.**

**"It will take a few minutes to retrieve the notes," Dr. Martin said. "For anyone else, I would hesitate to grant unguarded access to the stone, as you've requested. I trust you'll be careful."**

"Yeah, he was careful… With the whole 'shattering the Rosetta Stone into a million pieces," Set spoke up, and then Nephthys continued.

"I personally wish they would have left it broken… do you know how boring it would be to be stuck in a _thank you note _for _thousands of years?_" Nephthys asked, and then Horus spoke up.

"At least we had the game Scrabble!"

Everyone got silent, and then burst out laughing as the five gods born on the Demon Days looked embarrassed.

**He glanced at us kids like we were troublemakers.**

**"We'll be careful," Dad promised.**

**As soon as Dr. Martin's steps receded, Dad turned to us with a frantic look in his eyes. "Children, this is very important. You have to stay out of this room."**

**He slipped his workbag off his shoulder and unzipped it just enough to pull out a bike chain and padlock. "Follow Dr. Martin. You'll find his office at the end of the Great Court on the left. There's only one entrance. Once he's inside, wrap this around the door handles and lock it tight. We need to delay him."**

**"You want us to lock him in?" Sadie asked, suddenly interested. "Brilliant!"**

Ruby scowled at her daughter, who blushed.

"Well, locking him in the office was the most exciting thing to happen there, as of that time…" She stammered, and Ruby sighed.

"Yeah, Okay,"

**"Dad," I said, "what's going on?"**

**"We don't have time for explanations," he said. "This will be our only chance. They're coming."**

**"Who's coming?" Sadie asked.**

**He took Sadie by the shoulders. "Sweetheart, I love you. And I'm sorry...I'm sorry for many things, but there's no time now. If this works, I promise I'll make everything better for all of us. Carter, you're my brave man. You have to trust me. Remember, lock up Dr. Martin. Then stay out of this room!"  
><strong>

"Never tell someone to stay out of a room… They just break in to find out what you're hiding…" a cool voice spoke from the darkness, and Khonsu stepped forward, still tossing his ridiculous coin.

"So… When am I going to show up?" He asked, sitting in a chair sculptured out of moonlight and listening to the story as everyone ignored him. **  
><strong>

**Chaining the curator's door was easy. But as soon as we'd finished, we looked back the way we'd come and saw blue light streaming from the Egyptian gallery, as if our dad had installed a giant glowing aquarium.**

"If only it was that simple," Isis spoke up, and Julius nodded in agreement.

**Sadie locked eyes with me. "Honestly, do you have any idea what he's up to?"**

**"None," I said. "But he's been acting strange lately. Thinking a lot about Mom. He keeps her picture..."**

**I didn't want to say more. Fortunately Sadie nodded like she understood.**

**"What's in his workbag?" she asked.**

**"I don't know. He told me never to look."**

**Sadie raised an eyebrow. "And you never did? God, that is so like you, Carter. You're hopeless."**

"Hey! I _still_ take offense to that!" Carter said, and Sadie smiled at him innocently.

**I wanted to defend myself, but just then a tremor shook the floor.**

**Startled, Sadie grabbed my arm. "He told us to stay put. I suppose you're going to follow that order too?"**

**Actually, that order was sounding pretty good to me, **

"Then why'd you go?" Julius demanded, and Carter continued to read in order to answer that.

**but Sadie sprinted down the hall, and after a moment's hesitation, I ran after her.**

"I should've known…" Julius muttered, and Sadie smiled again.**  
><strong>

**When we reached the entrance of the Egyptian gallery, we stopped dead in our tracks. Our dad stood in front of the Rosetta Stone with his back to us. A blue circle glowed on the floor around him, as if someone had switched on hidden neon tubes in the floor.**

**My dad had thrown off his overcoat. His workbag lay open at his feet, revealing a wooden box about two feet long, painted with Egyptian images.**

**"What's he holding?" Sadie whispered to me. "Is that a boomerang?"**

"A boomerang?" Horus asked, skeptical.

"Yes Horus… A curved wooden stick that comes back when you throw it," Set said slowly, and Horus glared at him.

"I know what it is! I just don't think wands look like that!" Horus grumbled angrily.

**Sure enough, when Dad raised his hand, he was brandishing a curved white stick. It did look like a boomerang. But instead of throwing the stick, he touched it to the Rosetta Stone. Sadie caught her breath. Dad was writing on the stone. Wherever the boomerang made contact, glowing blue lines appeared on the granite. Hieroglyphs.**

**It made no sense. How could he write glowing words with a stick? But the image was bright and clear: ram's horns above a box and an X.  
><strong>

**"Open," Sadie murmured. I stared at her, because it sounded like she had just translated the word, but that was impossible.**

"Nothing's impossible for the Kanes!" Ruby said, and the other Kanes nodded, including Amos.

**I'd been hanging around Dad for years, and even I could read only a few hieroglyphs. They are seriously hard to learn.**

**Dad raised his arms. He chanted: "Wo-seer, i-ei." And two more hieroglyphic symbols burned blue against the surface of the Rosetta Stone.**

**As stunned as I was, I recognized the first symbol. It was the name of the Egyptian god of the dead.**

**"Wo-seer," I whispered. I'd never heard it pronounced that way, but I knew what it meant. "Osiris."**

**"Osiris, come," Sadie said, as if in a trance. Then her eyes widened. "No!" she shouted. "Dad, no!"**

**Our father turned in surprise. He started to say, "Children—" but it was too late. The ground rumbled. The blue light turned to searing white, and the Rosetta Stone exploded.**

"Yep, Merry Christmas," Ruby murmured, glaring at Julius, who smiled sheepishly.

**When I regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was laughter—horrible, gleeful laughter **

"My laugh is _not _horrible!" Set called out, and Nephthys smirked.

"Your regular laugh isn't, but your evil laugh is," She said, and Set looked angry.

"I don't have an evil and regular laugh!" He argued, but Nephthys smirked.

"Yes you do… When you are regularly laughing, it sounds like a chuckle, when your evil, it sounds more like a screeching," Nephthys said, and Set glared at her.

"That is not true!" He said, and Nephthys shrugged.

"Whatever you say," Nephthys teased, and Set sighed.

**mixed with the blare of the museum's security alarms.**

**I felt like I'd just been run over by a tractor. I sat up, dazed, and spit a piece of Rosetta Stone out of my mouth. **

"Ugh! What did it taste like?" Khonsu spoke up, and Carter looked at him strangely.

"Umm… An old stone?" Carter guessed, and Khonsu nodded.

"Fine by me," He said.

**The gallery was in ruins. Waves of fire rippled in pools along the floor. Giant statues had toppled. Sarcophagi had been knocked off their pedestals. Pieces of the Rosetta Stone had exploded outward with such force that they'd embedded themselves in the columns, the walls, the other exhibits.**

Zia winced.

"It was that violent?" She asked, and Carter nodded.

**Sadie was passed out next to me, but she looked unharmed. I shook her shoulder, and she grunted. "Ugh."**

**In front of us, where the Rosetta Stone had been, stood a smoking, sheared-off pedestal. The floor was blackened in a starburst pattern, except for the glowing blue circle around our father.**

**He was facing our direction, but he didn't seem to be looking at us. A bloody cut ran across his scalp. He gripped the boomerang tightly.**

**I didn't understand what he was looking at. Then the horrible laughter echoed around the room again, and I realized it was coming from right in front of me.**

**Something stood between our father and us. At first, I could barely make it out—just a flicker of heat. But as I concentrated, it took on a vague form—the fiery outline of a man.**

**He was taller than Dad, and his laugh cut through me like a chainsaw.**

**"Well done," he said to my father. "Very well done, Julius."**

**"You were not summoned!" My father's voice trembled. He held up the boomerang, but the fiery man flicked one finger, and the stick flew from Dad's hand, shattering against the wall.**

"Ouch," Horus said, turning to Julius, "that must have sucked."

Everyone glared at him and Carter spoke through clenched teeth.

"Not helping here!"

**"I am never summoned, Julius," the man purred. "But when you open a door, you must be prepared for guests to walk through."**

"That's actually a pretty good analogy…" Amos muttered grudgingly, and Carter shrugged.

**"Back to the Duat!" my father roared. "I have the power of the Great King!"**

**"Oh, scary," the fiery man said with amusement. "And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not, he was never my match. I am the strongest. Now you will share his fate."**

The Kanes all glared at Set, who slid down in his seat.

"He… He… Well… What use is it living in the past?" Set asked, smirking as they all rolled their eyes and turned back to the book.

**I couldn't make sense of anything, but I knew that I had to help my dad. I tried to pick up the nearest chunk of stone, but I was so terrified my fingers felt frozen and numb. My hands were useless.**

**Dad shot me a silent look of warning: Get out. I realized he was intentionally keeping the fiery man's back to us, hoping Sadie and I would escape unnoticed.**

"Then why didn't you?" Julius grumbled, and Sadie and Carter frowned.

"We couldn't leave you like that…" Sadie spoke, and Carter nodded in agreement.

**Sadie was still groggy. I managed to drag her behind a column, into the shadows. When she started to protest, I clamped my hand over her mouth. That woke her up. She saw what was happening and stopped fighting.**

**Alarms blared. Fire circled around the doorways of the gallery. The guards had to be on their way, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for us.**

"It wasn't…" Carter confirmed, and Sadie winced.

**Dad crouched to the floor, keeping his eyes on his enemy, and opened his painted wooden box. He brought out a small rod like a ruler. He muttered something under his breath and the rod elongated into a wooden staff as tall as he was.**

**Sadie made a squeaking sound. I couldn't believe my eyes either, but things only got weirder.**

"Things always get weirder," Amos said, and the other Kanes thought about it for a second before nodded.

**Dad threw his staff at the fiery man's feet, and it changed into an enormous serpent—ten feet long and as big around as I was—with coppery scales and glowing red eyes.**

"That was too much like Apophis for it to be any trouble," Set commented, and Julius shrugged.

"Sorry for trying," He grumbled.

**It lunged at the fiery man, who effortlessly grabbed the serpent by its neck. The man's hand burst into white-hot flames, and the snake burned to ashes.**

Zia's mouth dropped open, as did Ruby's.

"You just touched it and it burst into flames?" They both asked, and Set shrugged.

**"An old trick, Julius," the fiery man chided.**

**My dad glanced at us, silently urging us again to run. Part of me refused to believe any of this was real. Maybe I was unconscious, having a nightmare. Next to me, Sadie picked up a chunk of stone.**

"Sadie always tries to fight back," Carter said, and Sadie nodded.

"It's impulse," Sadie explained.

**"How many?" my dad asked quickly, trying to keep the fiery man's attention. "How many did I release?"**

**"Why, all five," the man said, as if explaining something to a child. "You should know we're a package deal, Julius. Soon I'll release even more, and they'll be very grateful. I shall be named king again."**

**"The Demon Days," my father said. "They'll stop you before it's too late."**

Sadie and Carter clapped hands, smirking as Set scowled.

**The fiery man laughed. "You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can't even stop arguing among themselves. Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall never rise!"**

**The fiery man waved his hand. The blue circle at Dad's feet went dark. Dad grabbed for his toolbox, but it skittered across the floor.**

**"Good-bye, Osiris," the fiery man said. With another flick of his hand, he conjured a glowing coffin around our dad. At first it was transparent, but as our father struggled and pounded on its sides, the coffin became more and more solid—a golden Egyptian sarcophagus inlaid with jewels. My dad caught my eyes one last time, and mouthed the word Run! before the coffin sank into the floor, as if the ground had turned to water.**

**"Dad!" I screamed.**

**Sadie threw her stone, but it sailed harmlessly through the fiery man's head.**

"I still felt it!" Set scowled, and Sadie smiled.

"Good," She said simply, and Set glared.

**He turned, and for one terrible moment, his face appeared in the flames. What I saw made no sense. It was as if someone had superimposed two different faces on top of each other—one almost human, with pale skin, cruel, angular features, and glowing red eyes, the other like an animal with dark fur and sharp fangs. Worse than a dog or a wolf or a lion—some animal I'd never seen before. **

"It's a Set Animal!" Set called out, fuming, "you spend your whole life basically in Egypt and you don't even recognize one of the only hybrid, undiscovered creatures?"

"What's another hybrid creature?" Sadie asked, and Set waved his hand dismissively.

"Ammit, and some others, I believe," He said simply.

**Those red eyes stared at me, and I knew I was going to die.**

**Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the Great Court. Voices were barking orders. The security guards, maybe the police—but they'd never get here in time.**

**The fiery man lunged at us. A few inches from my face, something shoved him backward. **

Horus and Isis smirked at Set, who scowled at them in return.

**The air sparked with electricity. The amulet around my neck grew uncomfortably hot.**

**The fiery man hissed, regarding me more carefully. "So...it's you."**

**The building shook again. At the opposite end of the room, part of the wall exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Two people stepped through the gap—the man and the girl we'd seen at the Needle, their robes swirling around them. Both of them held staffs.**

**The fiery man snarled. He looked at me one last time and said, "Soon, boy."**

**Then the entire room erupted in flames. A blast of heat sucked all the air of out my lungs and I crumpled to the floor.**

"That bad?" Zia asked, and Carter nodded, and smiled reassuringly to her.

**The last thing I remember, the man with the forked beard and the girl in blue were standing over me. I heard the security guards running and shouting, getting closer. The girl crouched over me and drew a long curved knife from her belt.**

Zia winced.

**"We must act quickly," she told the man.**

**"Not yet," he said with some reluctance. His thick accent sounded French. "We must be sure before we destroy them."**

"Wow, Desjardins showed some mercy… Of course, I still prefer him to Vlad," Set growled, getting riled up by just thinking about that horrible person.

**I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.  
><strong>


End file.
